Dead In Sin, Alive In Christ

Alba 1-29-2023

DEAD IN SIN, ALIVE IN CHRIST

Ephesians 2:1-7

Can a man be officially alive after being declared legally dead? That question became international news when a man from Ohio showed up in good health after being reported missing more than 25 years earlier.

At the time of his disappearance he had been unemployed, addicted, and $26,000.00 behind in child support payments. So he decided to go into hiding.

A court in Hancock County Ohio declared Miller legally dead eight years after he disappeared from his rental home. Miller said he wasn’t even aware of his legal “death” until his parents told him about it when he finally returned to Ohio in 2005.

An Associated Press report posted October 10, 2013 had this heading: “Ohio judge tells man he's still legally dead.” The article that followed said:

Donald Miller Jr. went to court this week to ask a county judge to reverse a 1994 ruling that declared him legally dead after he had disappeared from his home eight years earlier. But the judge turned down his request, citing a three-year time limit for changing a death ruling.

Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis called it a "strange, strange situation." "We've got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health," said Davis, who told Miller the three-year limit was clear.

"I don't know where that leaves you, but you're still deceased as far as the law is concerned," the judge said.

How would you like to be told that you are dead when you are pretty sure that you are alive? Actually the scripture does do that. Many people think that they are doing just fine, but God's Word says they are dead.

Turn to Ephesians 2:1-3 where we read:

“1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

This scripture says that you were dead as you “walked according to the course of this world”. You have heard of the “walking dead”. That is how scripture describes the condition of those who have not yet been made alive in Christ.

This walking death has tragic consequences, both now and eternally. It started back in Genesis 2:17 where God warned Adam that if he ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he would die. And death did come into the world when God's word was disobeyed.

Adam still seemed to be alive after he sinned, but from that time on he was separated from the relationship he had with the Lord in the Garden. And sin in our lives separates us from a relationship with God as well. It is not physical death, but spiritual death.

I Corinthians 6:9-10 warns us,“Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.”

(New Living Translation)

And the next verse says, “Some of you were once like that.” If that could be said about the Christians in Rome, it likely could be said about Christians today. Oh, some may say they don't do most of those things. But the list includes cheating, stealing and even people who are abusive or greedy.

And if you don't find yourself on that list, try this one from Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

You may still say to yourself, “I'm really a good person. I don't belong on any list like that. I can't have been considered dead even when I was alive!”

It's at this point we have to look at I John 1:8. It calls us out and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

There are many in America who assume they are Christians, simply by association, if nothing else. Unfortunately, many do not even realize the severity of their situation.